xviii, 326 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : 25 cm

Following the Civil War, Colfax, Louisiana, was a town like many where African Americans and whites mingled uneasily. But on April 13, 1873, a small army of white ex-Confederate soldiers, enraged after attempts by freedmen to assert their new rights, killed more than sixty African Americans who had occupied a courthouse. Seeking ng justice for the slain, one brave U.S. attorney, James Beckwith, risked his life and career to investigate and punish the perpetrators--but they all went free. What followed was a series of courtroom dramas that culminated at the Supreme Court, where the justices' verdict compromised the victories of the Civil War and left Southern blacks at the mercy of violent whites for generations. The Day Freedom Died is a riveting historical saga that captures a gallery of characters from presidents to townspeople, and re-creates the bloody days of Reconstruction, when the often brutal struggle for equality moved from the battlefield into communities across the nation

Includes bibliographical references (pages 307-312) and index

Prologue -- "Wholesale murder" -- From plantation to parish -- Power struggle -- War -- Blood on the red -- Black-letter law -- Manhunt -- Louisiana on trial -- A justice's judgment -- "If Louisiana goes ..." -- The court speaks -- Epilogue -- Appednix: How many died?

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